Using food to stimulate interest in the chemistry classroom

Keith Symcox (ed)
2014 | 192pp | £100 (HB)
ISBN 9780841228184

Keith Symcox teaches a course entitled Chemistry of Cooking at the University of Tulsa in the US. He is therefore the ideal candidate to bring together this inspiring collection of papers for publication as part of the ACS Symposium Series.

The papers provide an insight into the scope of chemistry education that can be achieved through analogy with food and cooking. As educators seek to provide real world contexts to enhance student understanding and application of knowledge, this work gives numerous adaptable examples to suit the purposes of the individual course. The papers also demonstrate an increase in student engagement, perhaps not surprising with courses such as The Chemistry of Beer on offer.

Laura Broad reviews Using food to stimulate interest in the chemistry classroom and explains why she thinks it would be a good resource for teaching students up to first year undergraduate level.